The future of microtechnology is green in Japan, too

(Nanowerk News) The third German-Japanese Micro/Nano Business Forum at
the Exhibition Micromachine last Thursday in Tokyo attracted
more than 300 Japanese industry representatives.

With their
keynote presentations, Prof. Esashi of Tohoku University and
Prof. Gessner of the Fraunhofer Research Institution for
Electronic Nano Systems ENAS provided an excellent
overview of current research activities in micro- and
nanosystems technology. Other speakers from Waseda
University, Panasonic, LIMO Lissotschenko Mikrooptik,
MEAS Deutschland and the Fraunhofer Institute for Photonic
Microsystems IPMS also attracted a large number of visitors.

Ryutaro Maeda from the National Institute of Science and
Technology (AIST) in Tsukuba introduced the Green MEMS
Project. The Japanese government's efforts to save CO2
increased significantly, and there are numerous research
activities in the area of "Energy management by ubiquitious
sensing". In the research buildings in Tsukuba, such energy
management systems with wireless sensors are already
being tested. In the Tsukuba Innovation Arena (TIA-Nano)
500 million Euros have been invested in research in 2009
and 2010 alone.

On the German side, the Fraunhofer IPMS, MEAS, LIMO
and IVAM reported on current trends in Germany.
The forum and a delegation were organized by IVAM,
together with the German Asia-Pacific Business Association
(OAV), with support of the Federal Ministry of Economic
Affairs, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy of North
Rhine-Westphalia and the Micromachine Center in Tokyo. In
the Micromachine Center, company like Sony and Panasonic
are working together on research projects.

About IVAM

IVAM is an international association of companies and institutes in the
fields of microtechnology, nanotechnology and advanced materials. At
present about 300 companies, institutes and partners from all over the
world are IVAM members. As the communicative bridge between
suppliers and users, IVAM brings innovations to market and creates
competitive advantages via technology marketing. Furthermore, IVAM
offers lobbying services for small and medium-sized enterprises,
qualification, various publications and world-wide networking on trade
fairs and events.